*When Evelyn says yes, I silently cheer to myself after chuckling about the pizza comment. She really shouldn't be alone in this time. I count myself lucky that I wasn't during that time in my life.*

'Deal. I'll be by my locker if you need me, okay, Evelyn?'

*I hear her say she heard me and I tap on the shower wall.*

'Sorry, sweetie.'

*As I step away I hear the "sweetie" comment and I shake my head. Sweetie? I really am becoming the lame mom. Whatever. Not a big deal now. I walk back over to my locker and quickly finish up changing out my uniform. I leave my duty pants on. I'll change out of them whatever, that's not important. I put a department T-shirt on and I quickly gather my purse from the bottom of my locker and I put my badge on it's holder and put it in my purse, followed by my service weapon. I take my wallet out of my back pocket and put it back in my purse and then I dump all of my other duty gear on my shelf in my locker. Once I've got everything, I take a seat again and I put duty boots at the bottom of my locker and I put my tennis shoes back on as I get ready to head off. I get her keys from her open locker and I put them in my locker. I take a second as I try to get my mind off of my own shit. Between the military, that bank robbery a few years ago, and not to mention Greg... Nope. We're not doing this now. I grab my phone and I start sending my texts.*

*As Hailey leaves I grab the soap and proceed to lather and rinse myself off. When done I turn off the shower and step out while grabbing my towel. Taking a few seconds to dry myself off I wrap the towel around me as I step out of the showers and back into the locker room. Upon reaching my locker I dry myself further and grab my civvies that I came to work in. Undies, black tights, black long skirt, white tank top undershirt, beige over the shoulder sweater, and white socks over my tights. Putting on my white sneakers after getting dressed I grab my badge from my locker and put it in my purse. Grabbing my jacket, putting it on, I close my locker and sling my purse over my shoulder and go meet Hailey.*

*As Evelyn comes back and finishes getting dressed, I try to give her some privacy while she gets dressed. I go ahead and I find the phone number for a pizza place in Crescent Falls. We're taking the interstate out of here. There is no way we're going south of the river at this point. I debate what we're going to do. It's less awkward to get a movie, but I don't want her to wallow in her thoughts, so that's not happening. If we have to, we'll grab one but not now. We'll probably just sit and chat I guess. I just need to keep the head shrinking and all of my personal demons in check. As shitty as it is, this is her night. I find the number and I look up and glance over my shoulder as Evelyn puts her clothes on.*

*I get ready to press my number on my phone as we walk out of the station. I want to be available in case anyone asks her about it on the way out so that I can basically play blocker. As we get out of the station, I get my keys from my purse and I unlock my little blue SUV and I put my purse in the back of the car as I start it up. I open up Waze on my phone and play some softer music on my phone quietly as we head out. I don't want to bring anything up but I also don't want a dead silence. I never was good socially.*

'Thanks for going out with me. I've been swamped with Julianna and Nick hasn't been around a whole lot with all of his stuff.'

*After finishing booking a suspect for assault, I take a look at my watch. Almost end of watch. So I quickly finish my report, submit it, and give dispatch a call. With only a few minutes left before I would have been cleared to return to station anyway, neither the dispatcher nor myself see it as worthwhile to send me back out.*

'Hey, can you do me a favor?' I ask the dispatcher over the phone.

'What's the status on 201?'

201 being M. Caldwell's unit today.

*The dispatcher tells me that 201 is currently on scene of domestic dispute in South Ft. Shannon*

*I proceed to the locker room and go to my locker. I dig into the back of my locker and pull out a brand new roll of duct tape, and a bumper sticker. Duct tape & bumper sticker now in hand, I make my way to Caldwell's locker.

Once I found his locker, I begin to rip long strips of duct tape off the roll, and proceed to systematically wrap his entire lock with duct tape. Strip by strip, I layer the tape around all sides of the lock. It takes remarkably less time to accomplish than I expect.*

'There we go...' I say as I put the last strip on.

His lock is now a giant silver ball of duct tape.

*I place the bumper sticker dead center of his locker door. The bumper sticker is a giant yellow smiley face with "Have a Nice Day" in large letters.

Satisfied with the results of this childish act, I proceed back to my locker.

I walk into the locker room, pulling off an old and very worn out department tee before changing into my newly issued duty uniform. I longingly run my fingers over the place where my old insignia would have been, before fastening everything up and straightening my uniform.

A probie. Again.

It's a slight.. more than a slight blow to my ego to be a probationary deputy after training so many myself but I suppose I have to prove myself all over again - hopefully I can build half as much of a reputation as I had before.

I check over my uniform, making sure everything is crisp, just as I like it. If I was going to hold others to a high uniform standard I'd be damned if I didn't follow it myself to the letter.